If you love great cigars, you
probably enjoy fine spirits as well. And what trip to Las Vegas would be
complete without some adult beverages? Tradition dictates that we conclude Cigar
Aficionado's Big Smoke Las Vegas Weekend
with a seminar pairing fine drinks with great cigars.

This year Scotch was on the
menu, and Cigar Aficionado's spirits
guru, senior features editor Jack Bettridge, had assembled a sextet of amazing
single-malt Scotch whiskies showcasing the broad range of tastes available in
this ever-popular amber spirit. As the Roll Your Own seminar concluded, the
Venetian waitstaff began filling the six glasses set before each attendee with
Scotch.

"Typically we only have four
whiskies," said Bettridge. "This year we've blown the doors off." The energetic
crowd cheered its approval of the extra spirits.

The drinks set out were Auchentoshan Three Wood, Glenlivet Nadurra, Glenmorangie Signet, Macallan 18,
Bowmore 15 and Ardbeg 10.

To complete the tasting,
Bettridge had help in the form of cigarmaker Manuel "Manolo" Quesada, a 36 year
veteran of the premium cigar industry. Quesada was going to speak about the two
cigars he brought for everyone to smoke at the seminar, a Quesada Tributo Julio
and the Casa Magna Colorado Robusto. The Tributo was the first to be put to
fire.

Manuel Quesada spoke about the two cigars he brought for attendees.

"Today we're smoking two
cigars that are close to my heart," said Quesada. The Tributo, he said, was
blended by his younger family members, the fifth generation of Quesadas. "My
blend didn't win," he joked. "The young ones overruled my blend. This is a
cigar of the next generation."

The first spirit to be sipped
with the cigar was Auchentoshan. "It's got a lot of great color, huge body, and
it has vanilla character and bread dough plus cherry," said Bettridge, after
taking a sip. "And it's a good match with this cigar."He explained that Auchentoshan is a Scotch made without peat.

Peat is the signature flavor
of many Scotch whiskies, but the Auchentoshan showed how a Scotch could be made
in a different way. "Each area has a signature flavor, it's very typical to
make something in that region that's not peaty," said Bettridge.

The second Scotch was
Glenlivet Nadurra, which is a non-chill filtered whiskey. "It's flowery, very
typical of Speyside," said Bettridge.

The third Scotch was Signet,
which is from the Highlands. "Wow," said Bettridge, taking one sip. He and
Quesada enjoyed how it paired with the smoke. It has "kind of a Snicker's bar
thing," said Bettridge of the flavor.

Scotch and cigars go well
together, said Bettridge, but it takes experimenting to find the right combination.
"There's such a spectrum of single malts," he said, "once you find a match it's
like an old bachelor finding a girlfriend and you're paired for life."

The Macallan was next, and
Bettridge explained its flavor. "It starts off creamy and explodes on your
palate. There's all this fruit and then some sharp licorice on the end." He
enjoyed how it worked with the cigar. Quesada, a big fan of Macallan, jumped
ahead to drink it with his second cigar, the Casa Magna.

The final Scotch whiskies
were Bowmore 15 and Ardbeg 10. They're both from the Islay region, a part of
Scotland known for peat, but each was quite different from the other. "You
might be surprised by Bowmore," said Bettridge. "It's not a peat monster. It's
a beautiful whisky made in bourbon barrels."

The Ardbeg was significantly
peatier. "This is a big, big Scotch," said Bettridge. "You get hit by that
smoke."

Karl Frigan, Eric Gaudreault and Kevin Kealy enjoying the seminar.

The panelists paired the next
smoke with each Scotch. Quesada thought the Auchentoshan and Macallan both
paired really well with both cigars, "because they don't compete with the
cigars, they complement them."

A poll of the crowd found the
Tributo went best with the Macallan, and the majority felt that the Casa Magna
went best with Bowmore.

Soon it was time to conclude
the Big Smoke. The happy cigar aficionados wandered out in groups, ready to
travel back home, their bags stuffed with cigars. Many vowed to return next
year when Cigar Aficionado magazine
comes back to Las Vegas for the 2011 Big Smoke Las Vegas Weekend.